Looking back at my life so far, there have been two distinct instances that have inspired me to become a teacher. Many people knew they wanted to teach ever since they were little, but that is not the case for me. I do not have any family that are teachers, so never really considered the occupation. Instead, it has been through my life experiences that I saw my potential to be a teacher. The two experiences that I think influenced me the most to pursue a future in education are tutoring a small group when I was sixteen, and having some particularly excellent science teachers who have made an impact on my life.
I was first inspired to teach by teaching a small group. When I was sixteen I was asked to tutor my two fourteen year old cousins in Earth Science so they could pass the NYS Regents exam at the end of the summer. This posed two main challenges for me: 1- Getting the girls to take the situation seriously being taught by their cousin and studying in the middle of the hot summer and 2- getting them over their fear of the test they already once failed, and try to get them to enjoy the subject they feel is unimportant. I learned how being a teacher doesn't just mean giving facts, but rather facilitating learning by putting the knowledge into more familiar terms to them. I remember trying to teach them how to date the layers of rocks, so I drew a connection to something they knew by comparing a conglomerate rock to a chocolate chip cookie, obviously the chocolate chips and other ingredients existed before the entire cookie, and therefore were older. I was amazed at how drawing comparisons like that seemed to be effective. When going over answers, my cousins didn't just spit out memorized facts, they thought about it using the same thought processes I modeled, eventually leading them to the right answer choices. I couldn't believe the sense of accomplishment I felt for them as they were demonstrating understanding- I think I was more happy than they were! I was proud that I had done that, I had made those connections and given them the confidence they needed to pass their exam at the end of the summer. It was this experience that opened my eyes to teaching, since not only did I get joy out of helping these students, but their passing scores meant that I was actually decent at it. I will always remember the patience I discovered that I had that summer, and hope to keep for the rest of my teaching career.
Over the years I have had various teachers that now stand out in my memory, and of those teachers, most of them taught science. Two years after my experience tutoring, I met my AP Biology teacher. Ms. Neri took learning a difficult subject matter and broke down the material in ways that paced our class while trying to learn it all before the AP exam. She was strict, which I admired, but also very funny and maintained classroom control while being so. She made nerdy jokes that only when you understood the material you would get. She had us write and sing songs, dances, and even cooked food in the middle of 11th period on a bunson burner to show us how asparagus effects the scent of your urine. She took hands on learning to a new level, making us get out of our seats often. We had a "meiosis hoe down" where we swung our sister chromatid round and round and danced our ways through the steps of meiosis. She had us send postcards if we went away, and had to relate the picture to science for extra credit. We dissected pig fetus' when learning about anatomy. I think I got more out of that class than most others I've ever taken, and I was inspired how she took an advanced 11th and 12th grade class and had us singing and dancing our way to the AP test, using more differential instruction and giving so many learning opportunities to diverse learners than I've ever experienced before in a science classroom. At the end of the year, I not only admired her, I saw a person that I wanted to be and a career that I wanted to have. I loved that she was teaching material as well as sculpting us into creative, intelligent, confident individuals. Ms. Neri made me more proud of myself than I had ever been at that point in my life, because she taught me how I could be successful. Through her methods of teaching she walked my entire class to passing AP scores, something we ultimately did on our own and felt the rewards for. I hope to capture this inspiring teacher's creativity in my lesson plans. I hope to be a Ms. Neri when I become a teacher by giving my students the power of knowledge and the confidence they need to be successful not only on the AP test, but for the rest of their lives.
These experiences have taught me patience, the creativity to use different modes of delivery in order to reach different types of learners, and how to make connections with students. These three aspects are ones I hope to keep in my teaching methods throughout my life. These are the experiences that have together brought me here, and will continue to shape how I teach.
I was first inspired to teach by teaching a small group. When I was sixteen I was asked to tutor my two fourteen year old cousins in Earth Science so they could pass the NYS Regents exam at the end of the summer. This posed two main challenges for me: 1- Getting the girls to take the situation seriously being taught by their cousin and studying in the middle of the hot summer and 2- getting them over their fear of the test they already once failed, and try to get them to enjoy the subject they feel is unimportant. I learned how being a teacher doesn't just mean giving facts, but rather facilitating learning by putting the knowledge into more familiar terms to them. I remember trying to teach them how to date the layers of rocks, so I drew a connection to something they knew by comparing a conglomerate rock to a chocolate chip cookie, obviously the chocolate chips and other ingredients existed before the entire cookie, and therefore were older. I was amazed at how drawing comparisons like that seemed to be effective. When going over answers, my cousins didn't just spit out memorized facts, they thought about it using the same thought processes I modeled, eventually leading them to the right answer choices. I couldn't believe the sense of accomplishment I felt for them as they were demonstrating understanding- I think I was more happy than they were! I was proud that I had done that, I had made those connections and given them the confidence they needed to pass their exam at the end of the summer. It was this experience that opened my eyes to teaching, since not only did I get joy out of helping these students, but their passing scores meant that I was actually decent at it. I will always remember the patience I discovered that I had that summer, and hope to keep for the rest of my teaching career.
Over the years I have had various teachers that now stand out in my memory, and of those teachers, most of them taught science. Two years after my experience tutoring, I met my AP Biology teacher. Ms. Neri took learning a difficult subject matter and broke down the material in ways that paced our class while trying to learn it all before the AP exam. She was strict, which I admired, but also very funny and maintained classroom control while being so. She made nerdy jokes that only when you understood the material you would get. She had us write and sing songs, dances, and even cooked food in the middle of 11th period on a bunson burner to show us how asparagus effects the scent of your urine. She took hands on learning to a new level, making us get out of our seats often. We had a "meiosis hoe down" where we swung our sister chromatid round and round and danced our ways through the steps of meiosis. She had us send postcards if we went away, and had to relate the picture to science for extra credit. We dissected pig fetus' when learning about anatomy. I think I got more out of that class than most others I've ever taken, and I was inspired how she took an advanced 11th and 12th grade class and had us singing and dancing our way to the AP test, using more differential instruction and giving so many learning opportunities to diverse learners than I've ever experienced before in a science classroom. At the end of the year, I not only admired her, I saw a person that I wanted to be and a career that I wanted to have. I loved that she was teaching material as well as sculpting us into creative, intelligent, confident individuals. Ms. Neri made me more proud of myself than I had ever been at that point in my life, because she taught me how I could be successful. Through her methods of teaching she walked my entire class to passing AP scores, something we ultimately did on our own and felt the rewards for. I hope to capture this inspiring teacher's creativity in my lesson plans. I hope to be a Ms. Neri when I become a teacher by giving my students the power of knowledge and the confidence they need to be successful not only on the AP test, but for the rest of their lives.
These experiences have taught me patience, the creativity to use different modes of delivery in order to reach different types of learners, and how to make connections with students. These three aspects are ones I hope to keep in my teaching methods throughout my life. These are the experiences that have together brought me here, and will continue to shape how I teach.